The killer’s lawyers argued Holmes was suffering from a psychotic breakdown on the night of the attack and was not able to differentiate between right and wrong.
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Holmes gave clear, direct answers when Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. asked about the decision Wednesday. “We knew some things weren’t going well there”, Robert Holmes said. “I understand he has a serious mental illness, that he didn’t ask for that”. A fuller portrait of the Colorado movie theater shooter has emerged during Holmes’ death penalty trial. At that time, he was well into the process of building his arsenal and planning the movie theater attack.
Defense attorney Higgs asked Arlene Holmes whether still loves him, despite everything that has happened.
Her husband described James Holmes’ as a good kid.
Arlene Holmes said her son’s campus psychiatrist never told her James Holmes had homicidal thoughts when she called that June of 2012 and revealed he was quitting therapy and dropping out of school.
She says if she knew he wanted to kill people she could have helped him. The nine women and three men of the jury have already convicted her 27-year-old son on all 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and explosives charges, and must now decide whether he should be executed or serve life in prison.
A phone call from James to his parents on July 4, just weeks before his shooting rampage, was unusual because it lasted for about 30 minutes. “Schizophrenia chose him, he didn’t choose it”, she said.
But then she choked back tears, saying that’s not true because “that’s why we’re sitting here”.
Fenton testified earlier that she called them because she was trying to determine if he was a danger to himself or others, but she also had concerns over her patient’s privacy.
“It’s been a hard experience”, Robert Holmes said Tuesday.
Arlene Holmes, seated two rows behind her son, hasn’t visibly reacted to photographs and videos showing her family’s holiday gatherings, soccer games and trip to Disneyland. I’d be crawling on all fours to get to him… James Holmes looked up at the screen as his childhood photos were displayed, but he and his mother didn’t appear to look at each other.
In this image made from Colorado Judicial Department video, Arlene Holmes, top right, the mother of James Holmes, fourth from left, in white shirt, gives testimony during the sentencing phase of the Colorado theater shooting trial in Centennial, Colo., on Wednesday, July 29, 2015.
Before she took the…
Holmes, 27, killed 12 people and injured 70 more when he opened fire inside a cinema packed with 400 people in Aurora, Colorada, during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight in 2012. “The event” is a phrase he used several times to refer to his son’s attack.
Looking back, his mother says, she can see how her son changed as he began adolescence just before the family moved from Northern California to San Diego. Robert Holmes is expected to take the stand again Wednesday.
At first, the Holmes thought their son had been shot; but they were shocked to find out he was actually the one with the guns.
But, in a phone call a month before the theater shootings, psychiatrist Lynne Fenton didn’t say a word to Arlene Holmes about the homicidal thoughts her son had voiced. Instead, Robert Holmes booked a flight to see his son at his first court appearance. “Schizophrenia selected him. He didn’t select it”.
The father said that he has only seen his son in jail three times because he typically does not allow visitors.
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During his first visit, Robert Holmes said his son “was clearly really messed up”, with his eyes bulging and his pupils dilated.
